The SaGa series has many entries and a lot of mechanics that you have to dive into. Luckily Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is the latest game in the series and promises to be an easy entry into the series for anyone looking to dive into the SaGa series. If you weren’t already content with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Granblue Fantasy: Relink, and Persona 3 Reload, get ready for yet another amazing RPG dropping in 2024.
Game Name: Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge Of The Seven
Platform(s): PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC (Reviewed)
Developer(s): Square Enix, xeen Inc.
Publisher(s): Square Enix
Release Date: October 24th, 2024
Price: $49.99
The beginning of Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven starts with you playing as Leon, the emperor of Avalon. He takes his son, Gerard, on a training session to strengthen his sword arm. After returning to find his son Victor killed, Leon sets out to confront the killer, Kzinssie. Following an intense fight, Leon gains the power of inheritance and passes his skills and abilities to Gerard. Gerard then takes it upon himself to rid the world of the new threat posed by the Seven Heroes. Gerard’s main strategy is to continually grow stronger and use inheritance to pass on his skills and abilities to future generations.
Inheriting The Will Of The Empire
The main gameplay loop of Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is probably the most addicting I’ve ever experienced in a SaGa game. As each generation’s emperor, you take on tasks from nearby towns or venture into open areas to discover new locations and towns. When you enter a new town, talking to the citizens reveals problems they are facing. If you solve these problems, the town will grow fonder of you and the Empire you rule. Once you claim a new territory or defeat one of the Seven Heroes, a time skip occurs, and you begin controlling a new emperor and a fresh cast of bodyguards.
You can recruit more classes by having new people join you throughout the story. If you save a race from disaster or discover a new humanoid species, gaining their favor allows them to join your retinue. It’s definitely worth recruiting new characters, as this gives you more party options and can even boost the capabilities of your smithy back in Avalon.
In Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, there are many ways to expand your city of Avalon. Once you control more than two territories, you’ll gain access to consultants at your throne. You can order them to construct buildings or add new sections to your city, though this costs a significant amount of gold. However, it’s well worth the investment. The university, in particular, is one of the best ways to generate gold quickly.
As you explore the world, you can stumble upon special tablets that contain the memories of the Seven Heroes. This is an awesome addition to the game. In the original, you learned about the Seven Heroes through citizens and hearsay, as well as from the corrupted heroes themselves, but it hits differently when you can witness the misfortunes that led them to be transported to another dimension. This adds much more context to the main villains and allows you to see how deeply they were corrupted. You get a clear “before and after” picture of how they became the antagonists of this world, with their flaws being amplified and festering during their time in another dimension.
The nonlinearity of SaGa games has always been a bit hit or miss for me, depending on how it works within the story. In Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, this nonlinear approach feels more refined than in any previous game.
The worldbuilding in Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is immaculate, and I think this aspect is enhanced by the fact that your empire plays a role in shaping the world. You can choose to help a species of Salamanders protect their home from a volcanic eruption, or let them be consumed by the magma. You can collaborate with pirates to build your navy, or simply take their resources and establish your own Avalon navy to expand your empire to other continents. If you work with the pirates, you’ll eventually encounter a subplot involving a power struggle with another sect of pirates who don’t respect your allies’ authority. Every action you take influences the world over the next 100 to 200 years of your empire. I looked forward to each generational leap, excited to see how the world changed based on the actions of my previous emperor.
The Glimmer of SaGa
The first few sections of Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven are linear to help teach you the mechanics of Glimmer. The three main focuses you need to understand are Glimmer techniques, Glimmer evasions, and Glimmer weapon skills. When you use a type of weapon, if you see a lightbulb next to the skill, that means your character has a skill they can learn. With each consecutive attack using that skill, you get a higher chance of learning it.
The higher the level of your opponent, the more likely it is that your character will learn the skill. This makes boss encounters particularly interesting. Usually, bosses are the easiest enemies to learn new skills from, but that also means you must focus on using only that skill to learn it. You may need to avoid using a heavy-hitting skill you already know to learn a better heavy-hitting skill. The SaGa games are all about discovery and expanding your character’s kit.
Glimmer evasions happen at random when your character is hit by certain techniques. You will notice that right before a skill hits, a lightbulb will flash above the character, and they will evade the attack. Each character can have up to four moves for Glimmer evasion. Initially, it can be challenging to learn these moves, but as you accumulate more encounters, it becomes a significant strategic boon to your party. Especially once you realize what moves a boss frequently uses; if you have that Glimmer evasion unlocked, you can dodge those moves consistently. A difficult fight can turn into a cakewalk simply by equipping a Glimmer Evasion on your tank character. You can also learn certain Glimmer skills like parry and counter by evading a basic attack from an enemy.
That leaves us with Glimmer Weapon Skills. Special weapons have Glimmer skills attached to them alone. These are usually very high damaging or high specialty skills that add a lot of utility to your character’s kit. Each class can learn different skills too from Glimmer. Make sure to change up your retinue enough to gain new skills that can be carried over through the generations to amass a giant selection of skills where you can customize your party thoroughly.
During the last generation of emperors, I amassed a ton of skills for weapons I used often like swords, greatswords, bows, and martial arts. I didn’t start using spears, axes, or clubs until much later. I would recommend trying to get a good balance though so you can build your party around the boss you will fight next.
Glimmer also affects your spells as well. If you use a lot of spells in a certain element, after each battle that character will have a chance to glimmer a new spell in that element. If you use the Life Water spell a lot in an encounter, you have a chance of learning Life Water II if your character’s elemental level is high enough.
I have seen a few concerns about bringing over the mystery Glimmer slot that was present in SaGa: Emerald Beyond. This usually requires your cast to leave a skill free to learn a new Glimmer skill. Luckily that is brought over in the sense you can have an extra mystery slot for the battle. Once the battle is over, it will ask you to keep your old skills or remove one to learn the new one permanently.
The Affinity of SaGa
Another big thing that is thrown into the game mechanics of Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is the affinity system. Each spell and a chunk of the skills you learn have elements assigned to them. Each element adds a portion of that attribute to the leylines and the air surrounding the battlefield. If you have an enemy that uses a specific element, they can regain HP passively after the turn order is finished. Their damage is also enhanced. If you use a technique or a spell that has the opposite element, you can remove that element from the leyline to put an element you want into the battlefield. Certain races like mermaids and salamanders get boosts from having elements in the leylines.
If you use a certain character class enough times, they can master their unique passive ability. Once mastered, this passive can be given to another character in your retinue. Nereids have a specific ability that lets them heal from the water elements present in combat. After each turn order is finished they gain a percentage of HP if the water element is present. This can be given to a different character once it is mastered.
In battle overall, every action you do will enhance your character. If you use a lot of spells in battle, your mastery of that element increases. Every time you have a person take damage, their threshold of HP increases. Tanking hits helps your characters gain more maximum HP. Everything you do in combat helps your character’s growth.
An Era Of Visuals Long Forgotten
I remember seeing the initial trailer of Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven and thinking it was just using the engine of the remaster for Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song and then getting shocked to hear everything in the game was completely remade from the ground up from the engine to the designs. Actually playing the game though, and yeah these models look so much better and move so much more fluidly than the ones in the remaster. The mechanics of the combat are inspired by SaGa: Emerald Beyond but the overall structure is just placed from the original Romancing Saga 2 game. The storytelling and worldbuilding of that game still hold up.
I played the game on the Steam Deck and did not see a single dip during my 40-hour playtime. It was a solid 720p and 60 FPS. This game feels like it is perfect for a handheld device and playing it on Steam Deck just felt right.
The SaGa Series Perfect Entry
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is the most comprehensive game to explain the incredibly deep mechanics the SaGa series has cultivated. If you are someone who wants a new turn-based game to dive into that will react to everything you do, then this is the game for you. If you are a SaGa fan you will be very happy with how this game treats all the mechanics the series is popular for. This is a huge recommendation from me. Get this game and give it some love. I am already planning my second playthrough of the game once I finish the post-game additions.
Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven will be available for Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, and PC via Steam on October 24th, 2024.
Review Disclosure Statement: Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven was provided to us by Square Enix for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.
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Summary
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven shows the SaGa series at its best. It may be a remake but it is one with a lot of love for the series.
Pros
- Gameplay loop is addicting.
- The world reacts based on what you do as Emperor.
- Building characters is fun and engaging.
- Most comprehensive game for SaGa yet.
Cons
- Needs more than 20 save slots
- Some world-changing choices don’t feel as impactful as others.
